A project
to investigate the genetic history of the Welsh, which will also give
participants information about their own DNA make-up, is now underway.

'CymruDNAWales'
is expected to last two to three years. It is described as a 'multi-media
collaboration' between S4C, the Western Mail, the Daily Post, Green Bay Media
and the research company ScotlandsDNA.

People
who live in Wales, consider themselves Welsh, or have Welsh ancestry, are invited
to take part. They will provide a spit sample which will be submitted to DNA
analysis and receive results about the markers and mutations found in their DNA
which are prevalent in certain ethnic groups.

CymruDNAWales'
company website advertises 'brochures featuring separate
ancestral narratives for the motherline and fatherline, as well as certificates
and printed [test] results'. Each 'Spit Kit' costs between £170 and £200.

The
organisers say that the results will also be used as part of a genetic survey tracing
the history of the Welsh people 'from the prehistoric
pioneers who first saw the valleys and mountains emerge from the last ice age
11,000 years ago to more modern arrivals'.

The
survey hopes to help answer questions as to where the first immigrants to Wales
originated from, how great the influence of Roman or Viking intruders was, and
whether the bloodlines of Welsh kings from the Dark Ages could be followed to
the present day.

Ian
Jones, chief executive of S4C, a Welsh-language broadcaster, said the project 'will
literally rewrite the history of Wales and the British Isles'.

According
to the Daily Post, another partner organisation, the forerunning ScotlandsDNA project
unearthed some 'surprising results, like the revelation that more than one
percent of all inhabitants there were directly descended from Saharan tribesmen'.

Alistair Moffat, managing director of both
ScotlandsDNA and CymruDNAWales, said: 'Wales has been very under-studied and by
launching CymruDNAWales, we hope to write a new history of Wales, one that is
inclusive, dynamic and different. The history of the Welsh can be found inside
them - in their DNA'.

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